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Young girl’s sweet potato experiment demonstrates the effects of toxins

Adorable and enlightening, this little girl, Elise’s experiment using the produce she bought from the grocery store may change your mind about how your choose what goes in your pantry– or maybe it won’t.

The comment section of the video was not surprisingly lit up with commenters who perhaps expected a wee bit too much from a little girl’s science experiment. Most of the discussion revolved around whether or not the experiment proves anything at all about the effects of nonorganic foods on health.

“A child’s experiment turns into a lesson on the toxins in our food supply,” read the about section of the video. But in the end, the experiment only demonstrates that the chemical chlorpropham prevents sweet potatoes from budding in the super market, which is why its added to begin with.

Elise suggests that the potatoes causes cancer, which hasn’t been proven.

“Ugh, I hate the combo of citation-free, just-so story scaremongering and telegenic kids. Feels so manipulative,”said one commenter, who later notes that nobody wants to eat a budding potato.

Nevertheless, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment calls chlorpropham “a mild eye and skin irritant” with “low acute toxicity.” When rabbits were exposed to the chemical, they later experienced “blood cell changes.” In an experiment with beagle dogs, the dogs experienced “reduced body weight gain, anemia, and changes in thyroid function and structure.”

All are important points that Elise was possibly alluding to before asking, “which potato would you rather eat?”